Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In my quest to take my T@B out at least once a month, I decided to do a local weekend since I have a holiday for Martin Luther King day. Staying close also made it possible for Rick to join me on Saturday night as he has to work a 1/2 day on Saturdays. Everybody thought I was nuts because the lows were going to be about 15F on Sat and Sunday night, but unless the electric went out, I knew I'd be nice and warm inside the camper. Friday and Monday (set up and break down days) were in the 40s, so the weekend was easy.

Ditto Landing http://www.dittolanding.com/ is mainly a marina on the Tennessee River, but it also offers pavilions for gatherings, walking trails, picnic areas, fishing docks, and a small campground with about 25 water/electric sites with paved pads, a grill, and concrete picnic table per site. The rate is only $16 per nite with no taxes added. They have a decent bath house and a laundry room with 1 washer and dryer. They do have a pumpout station, but it literally was a pump. I ended up just draining my grey water and emptying my portapotty in the toilets. The only real challenge I had was I had to keep my kitchen hatch closed except for a few minutes at a time when I was cooking because the water kept wanting to freeze. I definitely had to use my onboard water as using the water from the site was impossible as the water in the hose froze quickly. Fortunately, I had some RV antifreeze with me, so I poured a little of that in my grey water container to keep that from freezing. In order to keep from being stuck inside the trailer the entire weekend, I put a windscreen around 1 of my shelters and ran an electric heater inside there also. Blocking the wind and the electric heater kept my "front porch" tolerable to spend some time out there. Oh another note, I had to run my outside heater and my toaster oven directly off of the campground pole because the breaker would pop if running more than one of them off the internal plugs.

Other than that, not much to tell. Rick came by for a little while after work on Saturday, but decided not to stay as he was sick. I cooked really simple meals like baked potatoes, oatmeal, soup, Hot Pockets, and lots of hot chocolate. Rick had planned on grilling Saturday night, but really didn't feel like it. I basically spent the weekend reading, piddling on the computer, watching a couple of movies, I wandered around the Marina for a bit and took a few pictures.So on to the pictures

Playground at the campgroundSome of the boats at the marinaA view of the marina with the bridge in the backgroundInside my T@BThe dedication sign at the dock fuel station/store

A general view of the campground. The campground had a surprising number of campers there, but only a few were actually occupied. Most there were "long termers". A lady I talked to said she had been there a year. I would imagine summer weekends it would be hard to get the few remaining campsites available. There are some primitive tent sites in addition to the improved sites.

A tree they had cut down. (Many other trees were marked, and many that were marked, looked diseased.)

The bath house, pavilion

Another view of the marina area

Fishing, temporary tie off dock.Inside my front porch.

Some pictures of the campsite set up.

Well, I have another three day weekend in February for Presidents day. I'll probably take the camper out somewhere close again that weekend unless a T@B or Teardrop rally pops up.